The neighborhood Thai room at 2818 MacArthur Blvd — the former Cafe Noir space — is backed by a Santa Rosa-registered LLC and operates through The Oakland Kitchen's shared facility, a structure that lets new operators enter a market without a full buildout.

Baan Thai opened in July at 2818 MacArthur Blvd in Oakland's Laurel district, moving into the former Cafe Noir space with a menu of housemade Thai curries, noodles, and appetizers. The room was reported open as of July 14, per the Oaklandside. Menu pricing runs $9.95 to $22.95, per the restaurant's Grubhub listing.

The ownership structure behind the room has some geography worth noting. The legal entity is Baan Thai, LLC — a California LLC filed April 24, 2023 — with Phai Sounthala listed as managing member and a principal address of 424 Larkfield Center, Santa Rosa, per state business records. Sounthala's prior restaurant operations did not surface in publicly available filings. The physical facility at 2818 MacArthur is operated by The Oakland Kitchen, which describes itself as having worked with Alameda County's Department of Health for nearly a decade. That arrangement — a Sonoma County-based LLC running a room through a permitted East Bay shared kitchen — lets an operator step into a new market without the capital exposure of a standalone buildout. It also shapes the format: seat count was not confirmed before publication, and no active liquor license for the address was found in available records, suggesting the opening posture is delivery- and takeout-first.

The menu, listed on Grubhub, covers familiar Thai ground without cutting corners on range: Pad Thai, Drunken Noodle, Som-Tum Thai, four curries (Green, Panang, Pumpkin, Pineapple), chicken satay, crab rangoon, tempura shrimp, and soups. The $9.95 entry point positions Baan Thai squarely in the affordable range for East Bay Thai; the $22.95 ceiling keeps it a neighborhood spot rather than a destination room.

The LLC was filed three years before the room opened — a lead time that often signals an operator who spent time sourcing the right space rather than rushing a concept to market. Baan Thai arrives on delivery platforms from day one, which is the standard entry move for a room still building a walk-in customer base on a car-oriented stretch of MacArthur.